Isreali Defense Force Reserve Soldiers Can Now Use Medical Marijuana

By
Daniel Koren, Shalom Life
on September 23, 2014

Earlier this month, an Israeli startup, Syqe Medical Ltd., announced its development of a tiny inhaler that will allow patients new to medicinal marijuana to reap the drug’s various benefits, without ever having to get high.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, CEO and founder of the company Perry Davidson explained that Israel is at the “forefront” of the medical marijuana industry, an industry that has been thriving for nearly the past decade, with new strands being developed there that have immense medicinal potential, strands that Canadians and Americans are only now beginning to have access to. Concerning the former, one Canadian company in particular, MedReleaf, has been exposed to the breadth of Israel’s extensive research, after partnering with the country’s most promising medicinal marijuana facility, Tikkun Olam.

Thanks to facilities such as Tikkun Olam, and as Israel maintains its commitment to this sector as a viable drug industry with numerous benefits for patients, the Israel Defense Forces announced Monday that they will allow all reserve soldiers who have a prescription for medical marijuana to continue on with their medication, even during their reserve duties.

While the decision will only apply to a few hundred soldiers, the IDF has left multiple questions still unanswered, including if soldiers will be able to use marijuana out in the open, around other soldiers, etc.

“Medical cannabis is given to treat various diseases under the civilian system,” the IDF mentioned, adding that the conditions of participating in reserve duty are based on “medical condition, not on cannabis consumption.”